Drills to Help You Stop Coming Over the Top

KarenGolf Fitness, Misc

I was asked by Golf Digest to come up with a simple drill and exercise to help people who tend to come over the top for their fitness blog this week.

Here is my take on the over the top move…

fitness-friday-over-the-top-drill-260                                                                             Click here to view video and tip

There are many reasons that people come over the top (backswing starts too much inside, the golfer just lifts his arms to the top of swing, reverse pivot etc.), but whatever the reason the golfer starts the downswing by lunging at the ball with the upper body.  The back shoulder leads the way and the arms are thrown out away from the body causing a cutting across motion.

Ideally, the lower body should initiate the downswing as the arms are sucked closer to the body and slung towards the ball on the correct path.

Most people lack the ability to disassociate the lower body from the upper body.  They can’t move their body parts independently because of reduced spinal, hip, neck and shoulder mobility.  To create the ideal downswing, you must have a strong stable core so that your trunk can rotate as the arms are flung independently  towards the ball.  Where most people go wrong is that the trunk, shoulders and arms all work in one motion towards the ball causing a chopping motion instead of a swinging motion, all from lack of mobility in the joints.

Attached is a drill to help learn how to sequence the downswing and an exercise to help build stability and mobility in the core and to help learn how to move the arms independently from the body.

Click here to see Golf Digest tip.

Most golf professionals will tell you that common swing faults such as poor posture and lack of rotation or a reverse pivot are from physical limitations and until you address those limitations you may never improve. Are your physical limitations holding you back from playing your best golf?

Take the Cardiogolf 30-Day Challenge to find the best exercises for you.

What Is Cardiogolf?

Karen Palacios-Jansen is an LPGA Teaching Professional and Certified Personal Trainer.  She developed Cardiogolf, a golf-specific fitness system available at KPJgolf.com.

Share this Post